Moving On
by temptalia
Summary: Michael moves on with Liz's help. Mi/L fic.


**Title: ** Moving On**  
Author: ** Christine, ** Acidical@aol.com   
Rating: ** PG-13. (Eh, some cussing, but that's about it.)**  
Feedback: ** Always wanted.**  
Distribution: ** Anywhere -- just let me know.  
Side Notes: Definite spoilers for season 3. (Taken directly from preview of November 27th's episode.) There is no Max/Liz right now; Liz did not forgive him. (I don't even know if they're together in S3). It's short and sweet.**  
Parts: ** 1/1  
  
  
Michael felt his heart crumple, dissolving into a million pieces. The moment the hurtful words spilled out of Maria's mouth, he could feel the breath he had been holding. Everything was falling apart; gushing past torn seams. The Stonewall felt as if he could cave in, all things emotional seemed to hit their pinnacle.  
  
"I think we should break up. I want more than you can give me. It's better this way."  
  
Maria, no, was all he could think before he watched her walk out of his life forever. Dramatic, but as he would see his prediction come true in the future.  
  
* * *  
  
Michael POV  
  
I can't keep myself in check. My apartment is trashed. Nothing is left standing in one piece. Everything is scattered. My feet are bloody from stepping on whatever may fall. I feel tired; drained from the uncontrollable blasts I keep releasing. Maybe I didn't love her completely, but I did open up to her. I did love her as much as I could, at the time. But I guess she doesn't want someone who can't promise her tomorrow.  
  
I walk down the streets, and the sound of car alarms blaring and windows breaking follow in my wake. Nobody knows fury like mine. She left me. Maria fuckin' left me for first-kiss boy. Kyle said I should be jealous, that humans get jealous. I thought it'd be okay; that we were tough enough to endure the ex-boyfriends. Hell, we survived the end of the world, several times over. Couldn't we survive such trivial situations? I guess not.  
  
I admit, I never had the greatest grasp on control when it concerned my powers, but I could at least control myself from letting it go at random. I feel so dead inside. I want to feel. I want to be able to sense things. I want to be alive again.  
  
* * *  
  
(Still Michael POV)  
  
Liz came to visit me today. I thought maybe I forgot to go to work, but no, she came because she cared. She came because she knew I was hurting. She *knew*. Liz didn't take Maria's side without even hearing mine. In fact, I think that, even without my version, she would have chosen my side because Maria left me for someone else. And she knows how that feels. How betrayal eats at your soul. How it makes you feel like nothing else could go wrong. Where you've hit rock bottom, but seem to keep sinking further into an endless pile of shit.  
  
It's only been a few days, I hope this feeling goes away.  
  
She brought me food -- not Crashdown food -- but decent Mexican food and two bottles of tabasco sauce. Maria never liked that habit. She said it was disgusting, and insisted I keep it to a minimum. Sometimes I wonder that if half of the reason why she stayed with me was because she was dating an alien. That that made her special. But she was scared of the alien, because it also made me a freak. If the government knew our identities, no doubt that we would become lab experiments.  
  
Anyway, back to Liz's visit.  
  
She made me talk about it. Yes, I've been thinking about it nonstop. But I don't want to verbalize it. Nobody's been by to see me. No one's asked, and I liked it that way because I didn't want to tell.  
  
Liz didn't badger me. But she made me want to tell her. That's the kind of person she is. Warm, kind, and gentle. Yet still stubborn and elusive. The moment she stepped through the door, and upon seeing the mess of an apartment, set the food down on the nearest surface, and pulled me into one of the warmest hugs I've ever had the pleasure to receive -- and I haven't had many.  
  
I just know that a hug from Liz was so much more than it could be from anyone else. Liz just gives, and never expects something in return. She is selfless when it is important, whereas she also sets goals for herself, with plans to achieve them.  
  
And there I was, clinging to her like a lifeline. I think I might have caused her to stop breathing, but at the time, I didn't care. I just needed someone. I needed someone to care about me.  
  
My so-called family didn't. So much for alien relations.  
  
Liz just lowered me to the floor, sitting there, cradling me. Rocking me in her lap while switching from murmuring assurances or singing soft melodies into my ear. And I did something that I have seldom done. I cried.  
  
I cried for me. I cried for how things turned out. How we all got screwed in the end. I cried for Liz, because I don't deserve someone like her as a friend.  
  
But she doesn't seem to think so. She offers friendship, when I've rarely been civil to her.  
  
We sat there for hours, until I snapped out of my stupor, and realized we were sitting on glass. Liz was in shorts, and I could smell blood. She never attempted to get up from the glass -- she just sat there with me, no matter what pain she had to go through. A friendship that I do not deserve.  
  
I offered to heal her, but quickly regretted it, because I couldn't control my powers, and I never was good at healing. Liz simply looked straight into my eyes -- I felt as if I was being invaded -- and said, "I trust you." You see, nobody trusts me. My "family" doesn't trust me because I am unpredictable, irrational, and stubborn. Maria didn't trust me because I kept secrets from her -- she knew I did. She said she couldn't trust me until I gave all of me to her. What she doesn't seem to understand, is that I am not a package that's unwrapped immediately, I am like an onion (Shrek moment!), I have layers. Many layers.  
  
I healed someone today. I healed Liz. Her cuts sealed up, and that pale skin seemed unmarred. Then she did something that surprised me completely. She took my hand in hers, and kissed it gently then released it slowly. I glanced at my palm, and all the cuts I had from the shattered fragments of my life were healed.  
  
I didn't know what to say but thanks. She said that she didn't do anything -- that I healed myself. All she did was channel her strength and her admiration for me into my hands to help me.  
  
She did it purely to help me. There is no expectations with Liz. She gives, gives, and sometimes I wonder, what happens when there's nothing left to give? But then I remind myself that Liz will always have something to give: her love, her kindness, her humor, and a brief glimpse into her soul.  
  
* * *  
  
"Michael, those burgers ready?" Maria asked impatiently.  
  
She and Michael were on barely-speaking terms. The only times they spoke were when they had to due to work. Everytime they did, Michael felt himself losing what little aliveness he felt he had gained that day.  
  
"Yeah, here," he ground out with so much loathe and bitterness.  
  
  
"Maria, can I talk to you?" Liz asked after Maria brought the plates to the customers.  
  
"Sure, what's up?"  
  
"I would like to reschedule you."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, it's not working with you and Michael working together."  
  
"I'm not free any other day..."  
  
"Maria, then I'm going to have to fire you."  
  
"What? Liz, we're best friends. You can't fire me because Michael and I broke up."  
  
"No, Maria, we are not best friends. You've changed. You cheated on Michael, then broke up with him, to go to the other guy. You're completely in the wrong with this one, and besides, you don't need the money nearly as much as he does. Michael has his entire life riding on whether or not he maintains his position at the Crashdown. We also need a cook more than a waitress. So Maria, sorry, but I think it's time you found a new job. You can pick up your last paycheck on payday, and also bring by your uniforms."  
  
"Are you serious?" Maria asked with her mouth dropped in shock.  
  
"Completely. I side with Michael, not with you, this time. I have listened to you bitch and moan about him, but for you to betray him. Do you know how much betrayal hurts? No, of course not, because you never asked how I felt about Max sleeping with Tess. Or how I felt that he had a child somewhere. Instead, you continued to push me towards forgiving Max. You tell me that Max deserves another chance. Another one? Please, he's had more than enough times. And he's screwed me over more than once."  
  
"I...I can't believe this. Goodbye Liz, we are no longer friends."  
  
"I wonder if we ever were."  
  
* * *  
  
"Liz, what just happened?" Michael asked, compeltely confused as he watched Maria and Liz argue.  
  
"I fired Maria."  
  
"Did you do it because of me?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You didn't have to."  
  
"Yes, I did, Michael. Maria and I are no longer friends, and I don't know if we were even friends before all of this drama. You deserve to be able to work in peace -- you need the money, this is your income to pay your rent, utilities, food, everything. Plus, you're my friend."  
  
"We're friends?"  
  
"If you don't want to be...just let me know," she said quietly, clearly hurt.  
  
"No, no! That's not it at all, I just wanted to be sure. Thank you so much Liz."  
  
"No problem. Now get your butt back to work!" she smiled.  
  
* * *  
  
"Liz, you wanna do something tonight?" Michael questioned as he cleaned the grill.  
  
"Sure, what do you have in mind?"  
  
"Just hanging out at my place? I cleaned up a bit; it's a lot better than last time you were there."  
  
"Cool. Thanks. You can go ahead, 'cause I have to do a half hour of books before I can come over, okay?"  
  
"Okay, see you soon," Michael replied, hoping that this night would be the start of a long-lasting friendship.  
  
* * *  
  
Months later...  
  
Michael POV  
  
Liz is incredible. I love her more and more. Yes, that's right, Michael Guerin is in love with Elizabeth Parker.  
  
She's special. So supremely unique, gifted, and warm that it makes it hard not to love her. But I do. So much.  
  
The best part?  
  
She loves me, too.  



End file.
